Which was why she still stood there, by herself, but not alone. Because she was surrounded by people who were glorying in their feelings and sharing those feelings with everyone. Looking back with Alistair, yes, he might have been incredibly selfish and – well, let’s face it – a nasty piece of work. But even then, had she hidden him from the others? Had she kept him separate from her life, her work and her friends? It was quite possibly in part down to the fact that, in reality, she had known that he wasn’t the right person for her. Had known that she didn’t really want him by her side, representing a part of herself. But Malie and Todd, Victoria and Ollie, Zoe and Finn, they let each other shine. They were reflections of the other, like a shard of glass, refracting the light of their love and each other, for the world to see.

And inexplicably she wanted everyone to see the Henry that she saw. And she wanted to be seen the way that he saw her.

Incredible.

That’s what he’d said of her. And she wanted to reach for that, be that.

No, Lily told herself. She didn’t have to reach for it. It was already there, waiting for her to see it for herself. And in that moment, she didn’t see the grass bank leading to the vineyards sweeping down the hill. She saw the times she had shared with him. Laughing over coffee, holding the large pot of pasta as he told her he knew that she could hold it all day, leaning slightly against him as they had celebrated his twenty-first birthday several years after the fact, the way he had growled at her to get in the car during the storm on the beach, the moment they’d shared inside the Jeep, the rain pouring against the windscreen just looking at each other, soaking wet and out of breath, the way he’d struggled to tell her that he worried about her, that he thought she was hiding, not because it would hurt, but because it would open her eyes and give her the courage to be better, do more, reach further … aim higher, just as she’d once told him to. Then the way he had kissed her, held her, as she’d fallen apart in his arms the night they’d shared together.

‘Lils!’ Malie’s voice cut through her thoughts, and Lily looked up to find her closest friends, smiles on their faces and light in their eyes, beckoning her over.

‘Coming,’ she said, as she bid one last look at the horizon, hoping that wherever Henry was, he was OK. He was … happy.

The sighs and oohs of the guests as they first entered the orangery were great, but the look on Victoria’s face made the whole thing worthwhile. Lily couldn’t help but smile herself at how beautiful it looked.